Date of Award

7-2009

Thesis Type

PhD

Document Type

Thesis

Divisions

Faculty of Languages and Linguistics

Department

Department of English Language

Institution

Universiti Malaya

Abstract

This study explores the world views of two groups of Malaysian Ethnic Chinese: Chinese language dominant subjects and English language dominant subjects using an analysis of four aspects of the Family Descriptor Scale which was adapted from Pyong Min Gap’s (1995) unity scale. It sets out to answer the following research questions: whether there are differences in the patterns of communication among Chinese language dominant Chinese Malaysians and English language dominant Chinese Malaysians; in what ways the cultural and/or psychological aspects of framing affect respondents’ discourse, and to what extent the frames reflect the world view of the respondents. The study is eclectic in design and draws on Interactional sociolinguistics in its micro-analysis of the communicative patterns and frames utilized by the two groups of subjects. The distinct patterns of communication and frames suggest the existence of differing world views subscribed by the two groups of subjects. However, there are also similarities in the use of communicative patterns and frames between both groups of subjects which may be the result of socio-cultural and socio-political factors such as the dynamics of minority-majority group relations in the country and the question of identity among diasporic Malaysian Chinese. Findings suggest that there is apparent disparity in the world view of the two groups of subjects and to a much lesser extent, among the subjects from within each grouping itself. Discrepancies among subjects within each grouping are a result of non-conformity to the general norms. They also point to the existence of a type of frame referred to as the “superimposed frame.” The superimposed frame represents the combination of knowledge schemas of the differing cultures adhered to by subjects from the two groupings. Though subjects are Chinese ethnically, they are divided by their use of dominant language and medium of education. The differing world views among the two groups of subjects appears to support the weak form of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which is, language influences world view. Based on the findings, the researcher proposes that it is not just the time of acquisition of a language or significant progress in a second language, but rather, access to the world view(s) in the particular language(s) which is crucial in shaping subjects’ world views.

Initial

khm

Additional Information

Thesis (PhD) – Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, Universiti Malaya, 2009.

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